Tamoxigang cancer support thread 54: A new thread for a new year!

[WhatWouldLeslieKnopeDo]

Welcome one and all to the wonderful Tamoxigang thread! May 2016 bring us all health and happiness

If you are new here, then an extra big welcome to the club nobody wants to join. The thread is for people with any type of cancer, and also those who are waiting for results. So don't be shy. We are more than happy to hold your hand while you are waiting for a diagnosis, and we will be here to celebrate or commiserate, whatever your news

No question is too big or too small, someone will usually have an answer, or an idea of where you might find one. You can laugh, cry, shout, swear, and, of course, eat chocolate it is a bit of a safe haven from the mad world of cancer, the head-tilting and talk of bravery, and all the nonsense that comes with this diagnosis :)

So feel free to introduce yourself. And oldies, feel free to re-introduce yourself if you'd like.

We only have one rule here and that is no Googling!

Happy Birthday lily, have you got something nice planned for this evening?

I've managed to avoid all news about cancer today, how ironic, it's usually all over whichever media I'm looking at and makes me really angry. I shout at the tv quite a lot.

Mum2, never a happy time, mine will be coming up in the next couple of months. Appt with surgeon a month today.

Speedy, sorry you're still feeling a bit out of it but not surprising. Was it a long operation?

Hello to everyone else. DH has man flu. Nuff said.

Mrs. Hope Dh recovers soon!

It wasn't a long op but my blood pressure is quite low anyway. I just normally feel a bit wobbly for a day and then it improves.

Waving to all. Pretty good results from today's meeting about the strange red bit on the irradiated boob (after nearly five years). It's not the BC back again. That's a huge relief. Multi-disciplinary team meeting next week. Their geeks will give a view on what it is. I'm just relieved.

Relived to hear that news Amber and happy birthday Lily.

Hi to everyone else, i hope you are all planning something nice for the weekend.

Chemo number 6 for me tomorrow, dreading the side effects but have manged to get the whole house cleaned and meals planned and food ordered for next week so I feel prepared to batten down the hatches and wait for it to pass.

A tentative yay for amber fingers crossed for the MDT meeting outcome.

A hand to squeeze for mum while you await the results.

Grrr at the cough and troublesome node Sleepy I hope the treatment soon takes care of them.

Happy birthday Lily!

fresta very impressive! Good luck tomorrow. I hope the side effects don't give you too much of a battering.

Speedy I hope you feel better soon.

mrs I hope your DH feels better soon.

dinster your wig sounds fantastic

Mysillydog physio sounds promising.

Puffles thinking of you and your DS great names too!

Waving to everyone. Sorry to anyone I've missed!

Good morning everybody. amber sounds like good news to me ! Hope you are further reassured with that meeting.
For those who had chemo, for how long afterwards did you continue to feel tired and worn out fromdoing things like walking? It seems that even after nearly 4 weeks now since my last chemo that my body easily gets tired. I wonder is it because I am unfit and should in fact work out more or is it the effects of chemo still lurking? I reckon it is a bit of both!
I also think I need to talk to my doctor about the dull ache in my right leg.i havent been able to figue out which part is aching..soetimes it seems like my lepbis bone, so etimes m hip bone.it all started during the final thre weeks of my Taxol and then I was told this is due to the chemo. It is worse at night when i lie down.

Oh well. I do apolgise for going on about myself and my complaints:)
Hope you all have a good day ahead.
I am so glad world cancer day is over!

Oh dear sorry for the typos..that was meant to read pelvis bone , sometimes my hip bone!

Royal, I'm not at the end of chemo yet but from what I've been told, I think it can take a long time for our energy levels to return to what they were. Which isn't to say to stop walking or working to improve stamina, only to go gently on yourself... Asking the doctor about your bone pain sounds like a good idea - might some massage help? Hope it eases soon.

Impressive sorting, Fresta! Hope today goes ok and the SEs are as mild as poss. Do you have any box sets or audiobooks lined up for when you need to rest? I've been having early nights with Poirot on radio iPlayer but keep dozing off then waking up to find there's been another murder and I haven't got a clue what's going on. Ze little grey cells are really nowhere in evidence round here at the moment!

Speedy, hope you feel better today.

Mumto2, hope the waiting isn't too horrid.

I managed to avoid World Cancer Day too but sometimes it feels like every day is WCD for the media. Is it in the news more or is it just that we notice more?

Thank you Dinster.
I think we tend to notice all things cancer related now more than before we has it. I, for one, seem to notice more cancer related news items and songs or movies with cancer themes. I got quite upset a few weeks back with so many celebrity deaths occurring simultaneously from cancer. Even world cancer day yesterday ( which I must confess I never used to pay tha much attention to before now) was more aboute celebrating those who died :( it is like our fates are being dramatically sealed some way or another by all this well meant publicity! Having said that, it is equally true that public campaigns have helped increase awareness and hence save people. I guess until fewer people die from cancer, or better still, it is cured, it will always be linked to death.

Hi all, DS is back on the chemo and he is looking fab, good luck to everyone x

What a lovely smile he has Puffles. He must make your day.

Sleepy - he really does! I hope you're doing good x

What a gorgeous boy

Royal- it took about six weeks before I felt I was beginning to get more oomph back; just in time for my BMX surgery. I found my joints really ached but it is now getting better.

Amber- that does sound like good news.

Fresca- hope chemo went smoothly and side effects pass quickly. It's horrid goi in and knowing you are going to feel rubbish.

Feeling less wobbly today which is good.

Good morning all.
puffles such a cutie bless him.
Hope everybody has a lovely weekend.

We are having a new bathroom fitted. The tiler was due to start last Thursday. He still hasn't turned up.

The faslodex injections I am having on Weds have a side effect of d&v. We will only have one working loo and probably workmen in the house. Another cow pat from the Devils own satanic herd.

Fingers crossed for calm stomach sleepy. Are there other side effects or is that the main one which hopefully you won't get?

Has anyone else felt a bit nauseous several days after an op? I never have before and was fine straight afterwards. I had a few weeks of on/off indigestion before op so of course am now imagining stomach cancer!

Eek Sleepy! How long will the bathroom renovations take? I hope you won't be down to one loo for long. Do you have any friends or family you could visit during the day?!

Puffles what a gorgeous photo :) I hope your DS is doing OK with side effects.

I meant to say previously that I found Difflam rinse helpful for sore throat during chemo. The rinse is not suitable for under 12s, but there is also a spray which is suitable for children. If your DS has a sore throat again, it might be worth asking his team if it would be appropriate for him.

Thanks, all. For those interested, the multi-disciplinary team meeting on Tuesday are pondering whether this is pre-angiosarcoma. And, if so, what to do about that.
General one to be aware of, for anyone who had radiotherapy. Watch for skin changes of any kind, years after having radiotherapy on that skin. Could be a bruise that doesn't seem to go. Or a dark or red patch. Or tiny darker lumps on the skin, like spots, that don't go, or start spreading more. Or any other puzzling skin change that doesn't go away. Always get them checked out. Most will be 'atypical vascular lesions' or similar, and not a risk. Some may for example be angiosarcoma, in a form of cancer caused by radiotherapy. (No irony there at all). It's rare. But it can happen. On mine, there's a round-ish red bit of skin, easily covered by the size of a 10p piece. But it shows radiation damage and inflammation in the biopsy test, more than four years after rads. So they are working out whether to do surgery to remove it, or leave it and see. I don't mind either way.
Like I say, it's very rare for rads to do this kind of damage. (About a thousand to one, I think). Radiotherapy saves endless lives and is a good thing to have for many people. I'm just an interesting case-study

Hello all. amber thanks for explaining that to us. I hope they get rid of it. Does this angiosarcoma spread?
I start the rads in abiut two weeks time and jave read what needes to be read, including the possibikity of them giving one cancer. As you said, the benefits do outweigh the risks but I am kindve resigned to the fact these treatments which have saved man many people can also cause loads of other problems. I am having the rads on my left side which was a major concern for me. I was given an elaborate explanation of the precautions they take to minimise or avoid damage to the heart and lungs even, but a cousin of mine who specialises in radiation therapy (she has a Phd and a number of publications in the states and works for a big hospital's research centre) told me that in many, but not by all means all cases, there will be some form or degree of damage in the long run despite the great advancements made in the field. I guess it is down to luck in the end.
Here is wishing us all loads of luck:)

Thanks for explaining Amber.

Just found out that a friend who has been undergoing treatment for 4 years died two days ago. She helped me with info when I was diagnosed about Picc lines and stuff. Want to hit something really hard and yell a lot right now.
disease

Speedy I am sorry for your loss it sounds like she was a great friend. Feel free to shout and scream and swear all you need to here. Cancer is a complete fucker.

So sorry speedy. Hard to say anything more.

Thank you.
not a very eloquent post earlier. Just feel so much for her family and her close friends. I used to see her down at the school mostly before her children moved up and occasionally see each other in passing at the hospital. I hadn't seen her for a long time but knew that things were not so good and had messaged her.

You put it very well Leslie- it is indeed a fucker.

I'm so sorry speedy xx

Wondering how you are feeling Fresta? Hope side effects are going away quickly.

Still have indigestion and a bit of nausea and made the very stupid mistake of googling despite all the advice not to, and something which I have said myself many times to others. Have been feeling this a bit since Christmas so am not convinced it's just to do with the op which is why I am being so paranoid.

Am seeing the oncologist at the beginning of March so I guess I mention it then if still suffering or maybe I should mention it to doctor. I don't have an appointment with the surgeon- they just phone through results.

Sorry- this is very me, me, me today but I thought I was beginning to move on from it all.

I hope everyone managed to have a reasonable weekend despite the weather.